Cricket | IPL’s broadcast wars

Everything about the Indian Premier League (IPL) is about volume. Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has only grown and flourished. More teams, more matches, unimaginable revenue, and world-wide interest.

In its 16th edition, the 10-team domestic T20 league, run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is now second behind the National Football League (NFL) in terms of media rights value per game after Disney Star, Viacom18, and Times Internet paid a combined $6.2 billion (Rs 48,390.50 crore) to clinch the broadcast rights for a five-year period (2023-2027).

Broadcast rights

The BCCI's move to segregate IPL's broadcast rights between television and digital was a masterstroke. It not only won the cricket board the big bucks, but by ending the monopoly of STAR, it triggered the first real battle between an established TV giant and an aspirational digital behemoth.

While players match their wits and skills to win humdingers on the field, the off-the-pitch operations are perhaps far more challenging and fiercer.

If the IPL has to sustain its brand value, then it’s not about the players but it’s all about the advertisers and end-users who must retain their interest in the property over a long period of time. T20, like it or not, is the future of cricket, and the IPL is the brand leader by miles.

The TV-versus-digital battle has only begun. Disney STAR, which has the TV rights, and Viacom18, which has the digital rights, are going the extra mile to woo viewers. While STAR is banking on its captive TV audience, Viacom18, which has the blessings of Reliance industries, is aiming to ride Reliance Jio’s 434 million broadband subscriber base.

Every second counts

For the kind of money the broadcasters must pay the BCCI every IPL season, there is unbelievable pressure on the sales team to at least break even in 2023 and 2024.

As per the broadcast deal, STAR must pay the BCCI Rs 57 crore per match and Viacom18 will have to shell out Rs 48 crore per game. There will be 74 matches in 2023 and 2024, expected to increase to 84 in 2025 and 2026, with a maximum of 94 in 2027.

Every broadcaster has 3,000 seconds to monetise. These are usually 300 10-second spots that can be commercially exploited during over breaks, wicket falls, the four strategic time outs each with duration of two-and-a half-minute, innings break of three minutes, and walk in and walk outs at the start and end of an innings.

Unlike previous years when it held both television and digital rights (through Disney+ Hotstar) STAR’s revenue channels have shrunk now. It can only rely on its TV subscriber base, while Viacom18 is relatively in a better position. It can leverage the potential of Jio’s entire e-commerce bouquet. Bundling of packages has been a common strategy for monetisation, and Jio Cinema’s offer to watch the IPL for free is nothing but a bait to buy its data plans. It all adds up to the revenue.

Given the circumstances, STAR must sell its ad slots at nothing less than Rs 17-18 lakh per 10 seconds, and then ride its free-to-air channel like STAR Utsav Movies to tap the rural market. It’s a massive ask for any brand to shell out, especially for beverage and consumer durable products that are making a comeback of sorts after the pandemic-induced sluggishness. Comparatively, Viacom18 is reportedly selling its slots for Rs 6.5 lakh per 10 seconds, less than half of what STAR is offering. Viacom18, of course, has several other digital avenues to make money.

TV is still king, but…

Reliance’s vision has always been about mass appeal. With its deep pockets, it can afford to burn money and plan long term. The approach towards the IPL is similar. STAR’s strategy is clearly built on research that shows TV is still the medium of choice for Indian sports lovers. According to a November 2022 KPMG report, TV continues to be the dominant media platform in spite of the rising impact of OTT platforms. The report says that sports has the highest reach among all genres of content consumed on TV. According to this report, in the first nine months of 2022, 722 million viewers consumed sports content and the IPL was the biggest impact property with a reach of 400 million cutting across demographics.

Even with TV (900 million viewers) holding sway over digital (450-500 million), STAR’s ad sales team will be under tremendous pressure to make their business models work. Shortfall in targets is not unexpected if the broadcasters comply with the government’s advisory on banning big-spending betting and gambling companies to run their commercials on TV and OTT platforms. It is pertinent to mention that the government’s ban on illegal offshore betting companies is only partial as media companies are freely using their ads in their websites and print editions.

Production teams at STAR and Viacom18 are furiously working to present the IPL in a jazzy fashion. The BCCI produces a world feed and distributes to the broadcasters who then customises it to reach their end consumers. The world feed is usually complete in all aspects and broadcasters can only add some special additional features around the match content. These features are sometimes unnecessary.

Vernacular commentary

In recent times, broadcasters have added vernacular language commentary and here too, Viacom18 is playing the volume game. As against STAR’s nine languages, Viacom18 have 12 with Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, and Gujrati being interesting additions.

Broadcasters surely burn money producing these language streams. These vernacular productions have helped several former cricketers to make some quick and extra buck. General commentators can get anything between Rs 10,000 to 50,000 per match depending on their status. Industry sources say that star commentators such as Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, or Anil Kumble are very expensive commanding a fee of anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 8 lakh a match. How much value they add is anybody’s guess, but they are like ornaments during a live broadcast. All commentators, if they are working out of studios or venues, also get five-star perks, including air travel.

Usually a T20 match features five commentators. Language commentary is aimed at increasing brand value and reach through interactivity, but it can also see hilarious expressions from commentators, who are usually told to be on an overdrive when describing boundaries, wickets, and impact events during a match. There is no scientific evidence that language helps boost revenue.

The TV and digital war has truly begun. No matter what, the endeavour to increase viewership is good for any sport. A property like the IPL may be very damaging to the future of long-form cricket but it is good business. It’s all about volumes and of course, money.

(Soumitra Bose is a senior journalist and a research scholar. Twitter: @Soumitra65.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.